Today in Rockets history: Calvin Murphy scores historic 57 points

On March 18, 1978, Hall of Fame guard Calvin Murphy scored 57 points. That stood as the Houston Rockets scoring record for 40 years.

On March 18, 1978 (box score), Hall of Fame guard Calvin Murphy scored a historic 57 points in a narrow home loss to the New Jersey Nets. That total held up as the Houston Rockets scoring record for 40 years.

Most impressive at all? The NBA hadn’t even added the 3-point line, yet! (That came in the 1979-80 season.) Utilizing his lightning-quick first step to attack the basket and lethal mid-range shooting, Murphy scored 57 on 24-of-40 from the field (60.0%), along with nine free throws.

Murphy’s record was finally broken on Jan. 30, 2018, when current Rockets star James Harden scored 60 points, including five 3-pointers. Harden went on to win MVP at the conclusion of that season.

Now a Rockets television analyst, Murphy showed a great deal of class by immediately congratulating Harden once the record was broken.

For his part, Harden explained to the Houston Chronicle at the time that he and Murphy maintain a close relationship:

“Me and Cal talk all the time,” Harden said. “He’s one of the best to ever put a Rockets jersey on. Big ups to him. We talk all the time. I told him I’m coming for that assists record, as well. It’s great. He said as long as it’s a Hall of Famer that’s doing it, so that’s what I’m chasing.”

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Harden ultimately passed Murphy on the franchise’s career assists list on Dec. 19, 2019. Just before that game, Murphy explained why he was happy to see many of his career records broken by Harden:

People are going to ask me about him breaking my record. Number one, I’ve held it for 50 years. Can you believe that? All my contemporaries are gone, and they’re still talking about Calvin Murphy.

I’ve always said that if any of my records fall, I want them to be broken by somebody of quality. Not somebody that accidentally stepped into it. James Harden is more than qualified to break any of Calvin Murphy’s records.

The thing I like about James Harden is that when he does something of that magnitude, he always brings me along for the ride, and I appreciate that. … The fact that he appreciates what we did before him makes me feel good. This man has class.

There aren’t any publicly available highlight packages of Murphy’s historic game on March 18, 1978. But just over three years later in April 1981 — and in a game where highlights are available — Murphy scored a game-high 42 points on 19-of-28 shooting (67.9%) in a road Game 7 victory to close out the Western Conference semi-finals at San Antonio.

The Rockets went on to win the West that season, advancing them to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.

Over 13 seasons with the Rockets (including his rookie year in San Diego), Murphy averaged 17.9 points in 30.5 minutes per game on 48.2% shooting from the field. He shot 89.2% on free throws, headlined by the NBA’s longest-ever streak at the time with 78 consecutive makes.

Though Murphy wasn’t selected until the second round of the 1970 NBA Draft, the undersized shooting guard exceeded all expectations on both offense and defense during his Hall of Fame career. To this day, he remains one of the best draft picks in Rockets franchise history.

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(Editor’s note: With the 2019-20 season on hiatus due to the NBA’s coronavirus-induced shutdown, we’re looking back at key moments in franchise history. We’ll have more of our Rockets Rewind series coming up, since the league’s stoppage is expected to last at least 30 days.)